Scandrick, Newman equally bad

IRVING – Fans and radio talk show hosts are slamming Orlando Scandrick, but Terence Newman also struggled Sunday night.

Make no mistake. Scandrick deserves plenty of blame for Eli Manning’s 330-yard, two-TD performance, but let’s not forget that Newman also struggled in man coverage. Manning threw 30 passes to his wideouts, completing 22. Steve Smith and Mario Manningham combined for 184 yards.

“Their receivers beat us in man to man more than I thought they would,” Wade Phillips said on Monday. “We need to adjust there in our thinking in some areas as far as our strategy is concerned. Certainly our defensive backs can play better in certain situations. We didn’t cover as well man to man as I’d like to and I think that hurt us some. So we may have to adjust some things or help some guys.”

I was really surprised how poorly Scandrick played. He later admitted he didn’t prepare well for the game and wasn’t focused even though a big game might have pushed him ahead of Mike Jenkins in the battle to become the permanent starter at right corner.

“He should be focused,” Phillips said. “That was his opportunity, I thought, to show what he could do at corner and at nickel. Overall we just didn’t play well enough pass defense-wise. And we actually had a pretty good rush.”